ANOTHER FOOD FRAUD FROM CHINA!-WHAT A SHAME!

Does food industry really deserve the trust and confidence it enjoys from the innocent consumers who buy their products day in and day out thinking they are safe and good? This question becomes all the more crucial in a country like the US where almost 80% of the food consumed daily by an average family comes from the processed food industry! In contrast in countries like China and India hardly 20% of the daily foods comes from the commercially processed segment. One may argue that the damage potential from the industry due to sub-quality and fraudulent foods may not be much! But this is a specious argument not worthy of any consideration because the two countries together account for about 2.5 billion plus people, almost one third of the world population. It should be borne in mind that an important sector like food processing industry cannot be allowed to injure the health of even a single individual by its fraudulent action. The shocking news that in China almost 5% of the package food industry turn over is accounted for by recycled foods made from date expired market returns should disturb the conscience of the world. Here is a take on this unfortunate situation obtaining in China vis-a-vis recycling of foods rejected by the retail market.   

"Snacks made from expired animal proteins sold in vacuum-sealed packaging are collected from underground companies by food processors in Wenzhou China and sold to people nationwide as fresh food. Such recycled junk accounts for as much as 5% of the Chinese packaged food business, reported Jiangnan Times on Friday. Wenzhou police uncovered 10 underground mills in Zhejiang's Cangnan County in June, including large quantities of chemical additives and food coloring agents to give the expired goods a fresh look. Officers said millions of tons of expired packaged food is recycled in Pingyang County each year and sold to the public. Companies dumping the expired food products include market names like Xiangbalao, a famous Wenzhou brand, according to the newspaper. The expired foods are unwrapped and then bleached with cleaning powders. Then they are sold to food processors who use chemical additives to improve the appearance, repack them and sell them to grocery and package stores nationwide".

While the report which surfaced due to the efforts of some investigative journalists may reflect on the effectiveness of food security regime presently in place, a country like India cannot gloat over it as the situation there is no better. With unreliable data and reporting system and an ineffective safety vigilance apparatus in place, there must be millions of food frauds taking place across the country, unnoticed and unreported. Poor citizens are left to suffer silently with recourse to justice either from the executive branch or the elephantine judicial system! Isolated cases like the recent Bihar school lunch tragedy claiming 23 innocent lives briefly receives attention to be forgotten promptly within a few days! With precious national resources being wasted on non-productive and non-asset building programs, the federal government has neither the money nor the commitment to protect the health of the citizen through effective implementation of its own food safety regulations promulgated 2-3 years ago!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

AMERICA-CHINA BHAI BHAI!-THE CONSEQUENCES OF CHINESE FOOD IMPORTS

America and China are two countries which have a love-hate relationship since both are global rivals trying to establish unchallenged economic superiority. Though America enjoyed a near monopoly as a super power ever since the fall of the mighty Soviet Union, China with its Communist dictatorship registered dramatic growth during the last one and a half decade and according to economic experts America cannot afford to antagonize this nation because of its close economic dependence on Chinese investments in the US and over dependence of America on cheap Chinese imports. While cheap and low quality consumer products may not pose serious dangers to the citizens, when it comes to food safety, one can never compromise and it is here that Americans are becoming increasingly vulnerable to food poisoning from food products imported from China which are not subject to regular and thorough checking at various ports of entry. Here is a critical commentary on the current practices vis-a-vis the safety risks Americans face due to this situation.      

Chinese imports dominate some food categories to a striking extent. In a testimony before a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in May (pdf), food safety expert Patty Lovera noted that China accounted for 80% of tilapia, 51% of cod, 49% of apple juice, 34% of processed mushrooms, 27% of garlic and 16% of frozen spinach consumed in the U.S. in 2011. Reports on the state of Chinese food processing establishments are discouraging. More than half of food processing and packaging firms on the Chinese mainland failed safety inspections in 2011, according to a report by Asia Inspection, a China-based food quality control company. Meanwhile, in the U. S., inspections of imported food products are minute compared to the total volume of imports. According to a recent study by the Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee in 2011, FDA inspections were a mere 2.3 % of the total of all imported food products (pdf). The same study states that food imports generally have risen 10% annually since 2004, and are continuing to rise (imports grew from $399 million in 2011 to $426 million in 2012). The FDA estimates that food imports from China and India will grow by 9% annually between 2010 and 2020. The flow of reports in recent years from domestic and foreign sources alike about serious violations of food safety in China has been continuous and alarming. In the last year alone, the country has seen thousands of dead pigs show up in a major river, faced multiple milk scandals and busted operations that were passing off rat meat as mutton. In addition, as Patty Lovera told Congress, there is "widespread smuggling of products like honey to avoid tariffs and food safety restrictions [and] mislabeled products 'transshipped' through another country but produced in China." Food safety problems are, of course, not only a concern to the U.S. The German magazine Der Spiegel recently posted online a list of "rejected food" imported into the EU from China during 2012, including insect-infested potatoes, rabbit meat loaded with antibiotics, oyster sauce with staphylococcus, salmonella-infected ginger, pumpkin seeds contaminated with glass chips and arsenic in frozen calamari. American history of the late 19th and early 20th century reminds us that periods of rapid economic growth stimulate fraud and deception in food processing, which leads to increased regulation. As I noted in an earlier column, it wasn't until author Upton Sinclair aroused public concern with "The Jungle," his 1906 book on conditions in the Chicago meat packaging industry, that President Theodore Roosevelt moved to create the FDA.

China is not a saint when it comes to food safety assurance, even for its own citizens. This country was rocked by many food related frauds during the last one decade affecting children and adults alike and fraudulent practices are still being perpetuated by a section of the food industry which are being splashed across the news channels of electronic media across the globe! Whether this is happening in spite of the government or because of the government is not quite clear. The advantage China has in meting out justice is apparent when it is realized that the governing system is dictatorial in nature and unlike democracies, deciding about the guilty and according severe punishment can be swift. Still food safety scandals are tumbling out of the cup board in that country with a sickening regularity. America which prides itself the best governed country in the world, seems to be lowering its guard against China for reasons which are not very clear. If economic considerations are handicapping that country in taking the Chinese food safety problem seriously, one can only wish that the lives of innocent American citizens are not sacrificed at the altar of extraneous considerations.      

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

PADDY YIELD-INDIAN CLAIM BEING CHALLENGED!

China and India are two of the major rice producing countries and naturally both can be expected to intensify their research efforts to increase paddy productivity to meet the increasing needs of their ever growing populations. The Green Revolution in India during the last millennium achieved quantum jump in productivity which helped to tide over food scarcity for a few years. However further increase in productivity could not be achieved to any significant extent though the agriculture research institutions brought out many new varieties with traits like lesser water requirement, better nutritive value, improved cooking characteristics etc. Against such a background came the news from a Bihar farmer in India that he was able to harvest more than 22 tons from one hectare of land during the year 2011. This claim is now being challenged by China which does not concede that such a yield is possible at all. Here is the expose on this issue as is being debated by the international community. 

China's leading rice scientist has questioned India's claims of a world record harvest, following a report in last week's Observer of astonishing yields achieved by farmers growing the crop in the state of Bihar.
Professor Yuan Longping, known as the "father of rice", said he doubted whether the Indian government had properly verified young Indian farmer Sumant Kumar's claim that he had produced 22.4 tonnes of rice from one hectare of land in Bihar in 2011. Yuan, director-general of China's national rice research centre  and holder of the previous record of 19.4 tonnes a hectare, asked: "How could the Indian government have confirmed the number after the harvesting was already done?" The dispute centres on a controversial method of growing rice that is spreading quickly in Asia. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) uses fewer seeds and less water, but seeks to stimulate the roots of young plants, mainly with organic manures. It can work with all kinds of seeds, including GM, and has the effect of getting plants to grow larger, healthier root systems. Many scientists initially doubted whether yields of this magnitude were possible, but peer-reviewed papers have shown consistent improvements over conventional rice farming methods. Yuan told the Chinese press after seeing the Observer Food Monthlyarticle: "I introduced the intensification method to China myself. It could increase yields by 10-15% in low-yield fields, but it's not possible for fields that are already producing relatively high yields." However, Norman Uphoff, professor of agriculture at Cornell University in the US, defended Kumar and the Indian authorities. "The yield measurements for Kumar and other farmers in the Nalanda district of Bihar, which matched or exceeded the previous record, were at first rejected by Indian scientists, who did not believe such results were possible. "The measurements were made by staking out 10 by 5 metre plots in the centre of one-acre fields, not sampled crop-cuts from small areas. The 50 square metre plots were harvested with hundreds of people watching the cutting, threshing and weighing because everyone anticipated unprecedented yields," he said. "These results were achieved with hybrid varieties which derive from Yuan's own innovation of hybridising rice, considered for decades by most rice scientists to be impossible." The measurements were later acknowledged as valid by both the Indian Council for Agricultural Research and the Ministry of Agriculture.

One can understand the frustration of the Chinese scientist who was instrumental in developing the much acclaimed SIR cultivation technique which is based on stimulating the root of the young paddy plants to grow larger root system enabling them to bear more flowering and fruiting resulting in higher yield per plant. Since the yield figures have been verified more than once through scientific measuring methodology in presence of international experts there is no reason to doubt the claims of the Bihar farmer. While India need not bother about any certificate from Chinese scientist, efforts must be made to spread the technique in all paddy growing regions to achieve huge production jump in the country. The country is not in competition with any other country for getting into the record books but trying hard to provide adequate food to its population. While yield increase is laudable, lesser water requirement for this technology is an added bonus to go by if such efforts succeed on a wider scale.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

HONEY "LAUNDERING"-THE CHINESE EXPERTISE!

United States import honey from many countries and every imported consignment is supposed to be tested for safety and quality. In trade terms under WTO regime, anti-dumping duties can be imposed if the imports are valued low affecting adversely the domestic industry. As Chinese are known to indulge in dumping many of their products in many countries at unbelievably low prices, recourse is taken to impose import duty to make them almost on par with prices of domestic products. Honey is one such item which attracts anti-dumping duty if it originates from China. Naturally to circumvent such fiscal impositions, China often routes its honey through other countries as technically it is difficult to trace the origin of the product through existing testing protocols. While economic aspect is one thing, what is bothering the US is that Chinese honey farmers are known to be unscrupulous in using banned antibiotics to deal with infections affecting the bees in its production centers. Here is a take on this on going "honey war" between the two super powers and its consequences.  

The government is alleging that Chinese honey — which can be laced with illegal and unsafe antibiotics — was misdeclared when it was imported to the United States and routed through other countries to evade more than $180 million in anti-dumping duties. HSI and Customs and Border Protection said late last week they have stepped up efforts to combat commercial fraud that directly impacts the economy and public health. The charges come more than a year after an investigation by Food Safety News found that laboratory tests could not detect the origin of more than three quarters of honey purchased at retail locations because ultra-filtration methods remove naturally occurring pollen and make honey impossible to trace. Many in the industry say this practice contributes to honey laundering. As one honey producer put it: "It's no secret to anyone in the business that the only reason all the pollen is filtered out is to hide where it initially came from and the fact is that in almost all cases, that is China."

While one has heard about "money laundering" that refers to converting ill gotten money by individuals who do not pay appropriate taxes in their countries resorting to routing the same to tax havens where no question is asked or no explanation is given. Honey laundering refers more or less to the same technique where Chinese honey is shipped to a third country with which the US has good relations and from there it finds easy entry into the US with relatively less cumbersome inspection and surveillance.  Raw honey if not processed through ultra filtration equipment, will contain pollen and probably critical tests can pin point the source of honey through pollen testing. Chinese send almost all their honey after ultra filtration making it difficult for easy detection. Now that the US as well as the EU have been able to crack this racket, Chinese should not be allowed to go scot-free for this heinous and devious action.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

DRUGGED CHICKEN-A STAPLE IN CHINA?

China is fast growing as the capital of fraudulent food products manufactured both for exports as well as domestic consumption. While one will have laud the economic miracles achieved by this ancient country with in a short span of time, what is incomprehensible is why this country is not able to prevent food frauds taking place more and more frequently affecting its image abroad and health of its citizens. Some how countries like India and China are under estimating the innovative genius shown by food criminals who seem to be invariably one step ahead of the government! Latest episode of food fraud comes from some parts of China where chicken farmers are reported to be using banned drugs, antibiotics and non-permissible hormones to fatten their chicken, obviously to make fast money, ignoring the well being of the citizens. Here is commentary on this despicable practices going on unchecked in this country.

On December 18, China Central Television (CCTV), the country's national television station, reported
that several Shandong-located chicken farms fed antibiotics and hormones to chickens every day 
to reduce their death rate and quicken their growth. Hormones, antibiotics and antiviral drugs,
were all fed to the chickens to compensate for the unsanitary conditions in their cages,
according to the CCTV report. The owner of one of the farms says he gave the chickens
at least 18 kinds of antibiotics. Within a mere 40 days, the chickens' weight would surge
upward of 3 kg. To make matters worse, the chickens were found to be  given drugs banned
by the State Food and Drug Administration of China (SFDA). According to the report, some
chickens were fed anti-biotics two days before slaughter.China's poultry raising regulations state that chickens cannot be given drugs at leastone week before being slaughtered to ensure the drugs are no longer in their systems. Two such farms in Gaomi  and Pingdu, both in east China's Shandong Province, sold their chickens to a slaughterhouse  in Pingdu, which belongs to Liuhe Group, the company that provides chicken to the China
division of Yum Brands of Shanghai, which owns the KFC fast food chain. Yum's logistics center then
delivered the chicken to its fast food stores, said the report.Companies belonging  ;to Liuhe Group
also fabricated feeding logs for their chicken farms and produced quarantine qualifications without
 conducting any tests, said the report. On December 21, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration
conducted a food safety check at KFC outlets. It found that one of 32 samples taken from eight
batches of Yum Brands' raw chicken was suspected to be contaminated with the anti-viral medicine amantadine, which is banned for use in food. The Shanghai food and drug authority
has asked Yum to recall related products fr omits KFC restaurants&nb sp;and has launched a citywide
inspection of KFC outlets. Yum Brands Inc., the world's largest restaurant group, is believed to have known

about the antibiotics in its chicken as far back as 2010. Beijing Review was unable to reach

Yum Brands for comment. McDonald's and the Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya have also been embroiled in the chicken scandal. On December 23, the Beijing Animal Inspection authority uncovered that
23 restaurants or food companies bought chicken from Liuhe Group, including Yoshinoya.
Some dishes incorporating chicken have been withdrawn from sale at Yoshinoya restaurantsin Beijing,
reported the Xinhua News Agency. On December 26, McDonald's admitted that the Liuhe
Group was its secondtier supplier.It claims to have stopped using raw chicken from Liuhe since December 18. During a press conference held on December 25, Bi Meijia, spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), said that relevant poultry raisers and processors have been shutdown
and are currently under investigation. The MOA has dispatched a group ofexperts to Shandong
Province to inspect the matter, he said.

Globally food adulterators and fraudulent players are having a swell time in making money by cheating the consumers and the regulatory agencies through very innovative techniques and higher the prices of food products larger seems to be margins for this industry! Olive oil, Saffron, Honey, etc are prime candidates for fraudulent practices and due to many reaons they are able to get away without being detected and pinished. Milk is another food item attracting adulterators in droves and this is an example of how such activities are sustained for decades in every part of the world. Imagine the genius of these criminals in India where milk is made without the help of a cow or a buffalo but using chemicals like urea and detergents! Probably people, especially in poor and developing countries may have to live with this evil till adequate resources are available to them to create required infrastructural facilities to check, uncover and bring to book those indulging in food related criminal activities.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

NEW "TB" DANGERS-INDIA AND CHINA IN THE SAME BOAT?

Tuberculosis more commonly known as TB or MTB  is a scourge affecting millions of people in poor countries, caused mainly by the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculi. Though it is estimated that almost one third of the world population carry this infection with those in poor countries accounting for 80% of the cases but only about 13 million people are chronically affected by TB and the death toll due to this disease is estimated to be about 1.5 million per year. The bacteria affect the lungs and its manifestation is through coughing with bloody sputum, fever, night sweats and weight loss during the active progress of the disease. One of out of every latent carriers of TB progress to chronic stage. TB spreads through air and those who are active carriers can infect others through sneezing, coughing and saliva. As the bacterium has strong outer cell wall, drugs often prove to be ineffective in treating this disease. Though during initial stages single antibiotic may work, multi drug treatment is the only option at later stages. drugs like Rifampicin, Isoniazid, Pyrazinamide, Ethambutol are the choices administered singly or in combinations. Recent reports that TB variants resistant to all known drugs are emerging in China and India are indeed alarming. Here are two such reports which illustrate the dangers posed by such drug resistant TB in these countries.    

Out of the million Chinese who develop TB every year, researchers say at least 110,000 get a form that's resistant to the mainstay drugs isoniazid and rifampin. Patients with such multidrug-resistant or MDR tuberculosis have to be treated for up to two years with expensive second-line drugs that are toxic and less effective. Worse yet, the new survey shows that at least 8,200 Chinese are coming down with extensively resistant or XDR-TB. That means it's also resistant to at least two of the second-line drugs — and thus may be incurable in many cases. And still worse, most of these resistant cases are being passed from patient to patient. So drug-resistant forms of TB are circulating in the community, they're not just being created one patient at a time when an individual doesn't get a full course of the right drugs (although that's happening too). "The results of this nationwide survey in China confirm that the country has a serious epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis," write study authors, who mostly work at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a government agency. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers report that a third of new TB cases and half of patients with previously treated TB have drug-resistant forms. "China has the highest annual number of MDR tuberculosis in the world — a quarter of the cases worldwide," the Chinese experts note in a forthright statement that bears no trace of muting the problem for the sake of national pride.

Tuberculosis specialists in India have diagnosed infections in a dozen patients in Mumbai that are unfazed by the three first-choice TB drugs and all nine second-line drugs. The doctors are calling them "totally drug-resistant TB," and the infections are essentially incurable with all available medicines. It's a sobering development. Infectious disease specialists say there will surely be more such cases in India and other countries where cases of TB that resist some but not all drugs are being inadequately treated. Poor care is fueling the development of the super bugs. "The vast majority of these unfortunate patients seek care from private physicians in a desperate attempt to find a cure for their tuberculosis," the Indian specialists write in Clinical Infectious Diseases. "The majority of these prescriptions were inappropriate and would only have served to further amplify resistance." The team did a study that showed only five of 106 private practitioners "wrote the correct prescription for treating TB," Dr. Zarir F Udwadia, one of the study authors, told Daily News and Analysis, an Indian publication. "The other TB challenge is diagnosis, especially of resistant strains, and here again the news is not good," writes infectious disease blogger Maryn McKenna. "The World Health Organization said last spring that only two-thirds of countries with resistant TB epidemics have the lab capacity to detect the resistant strains." Johns Hopkins TB researcher Dr. Richard Chaisson tells Shots that "total resistance is a new phenomenon that is entirely predictable." It's predictable, he says, because hundreds of thousands of people in India have what's called multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB. And a growing number have "extensively resistant TB," or XDR-TB. And very, very few of them are getting the expensive, hard-to-take drugs that might cure their infections. "If you don't provide supervised second-line drugs, this is what you're going to see," agrees Dr. Carol Dukes Hamilton of Duke University. "People go to practitioners who aren't TB experts. They don't give the right doses or make sure people take them." Still, the development of these cases of totally resistant TB doesn't necessarily mean epidemics will sweep through India, or anywhere else, right away. For one thing, there's no evidence so far that patients with these defiant TB strains are transmitting them to others. Most likely, Hamilton says, these patients didn't catch the maximally resistant TB strain from someone else. Rather each patient probably incubated his or her own totally resistant strain after being inadequately treated. That allows the TB bacterium to develop resistance to one drug after another. Technically, the Indian cases might not really be totally resistant. The Mumbai specialists didn't try some so-called third-line experimental drugs that U.S. doctors might use in such cases. At least one of the Mumbai patients did have surgery to remove diseased lung tissue, but she died anyway. But practically speaking, such treatments aren't usually available in India or many other places where totally drug-resistant cases may arise. The problem of evolving TB drug resistance has been brewing for years. In the early 1990s, multidrug-resistant TB began spreading in New York City, abetted by homelessness, prison outbreaks and HIV. Aggressive identification and treatment of these cases, including the direct observation of patients taking their pills, snuffed out that epidemic. In 2005, extensively drug-resistant TB — strains untreatable with the three first-line drugs and several second-choice medications — cropped up in the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal, again abetted by HIV, which devastates immune defenses. Chaisson says South Africa has since mounted an effective program of treatment with the few drugs that work against XDR-TB. "But they have more patients than they have treatment slots," he says. Two Italian women with HIV were the first recognized cases of "totally drug-resistant TB" back in 2003. Another 15 patients with totally resistant infections were discovered in 2009 in Iran. So nobody expects the new Mumbai cases will be the end of this troubling new phenomenon.

BCG vaccination during early childhood was a standard procedure to protect children from TB infection but there is no unanimity regarding the effectiveness of the this preventive measure. Its performance has been erratic besides losing its potency after the age of 10 years. Another potent TB causing bacterium T. bovis has become almost extinct after the advent of milk pasteurization technology that is able to eliminate this species from milk. Other lesser known species like M. africanum, M.canetti and M.microti are not so virulent and wide spread, deserving much attention. How this bacterium has been able to evolve into multi drug resistant version is a matter of speculation. Many TB treatment specialists opine that Multi Drug resistant Tuberculosis develops because of sub-optimal treatment meted out by local physicians helping the bacterium to evolve into resistant versions over a period of time. Both China and India need to gear up their TB monitoring and treatment infrastructure to stop the spread of this scourge on its track immediately.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

   

PRICE FOR FAST GROWTH-CHINESE EXPERIENCE

Is the food safety situation really bad in China which is aspiring to outpace the United States and become the most powerful nation on earth? If some recent reports are to be believed, Chinese citizens are highly disadvantaged because of a food production system afflicted by malpractices, adulteration and fraud widely prevalent in that country. It appears the citizens are so concerned that they have raised their vigilance to a high level to avoid such dangerous foods and any help to navigate the treacherous food market is eagerly accepted. Recent evolving of an app in Apple's iPhone for accessing to food safety episodes on every day basis has become instant success. Here is a report that peeps into the food scenario in China.

'There's mercury in the baby formula. Cabbages are sprayed with formaldehyde. Gelatin capsules for pills, tens of millions of them, are laced with chromium. Used cooking oil is scooped out of gutters for recycling, right along with the sewage. Accounts of dubious or unsafe food in China are as mesmerizing as they are disturbing — "artificial green peas," grilled kebabs made from cat meat, contaminated chives, chlorine showing up in soft drinks. There have been stories of imitation soy sauce made from hair clippings, ink and paraffin being used to dress up cheap noodles, and pork buns so loaded with bacteria that they glow in the dark. A new investigation by the Chinese magazine Caixin has found that "these publicized food safety scandals represent only a fraction of unsafe food production practices. Hundreds of chemical food additives are pumped into products that Chinese people consume every day." The official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday that Chinese authorities have discovered 15,000 cases of substandard food so far this year while shutting down 5,700 unlicensed food businesses. Things are so bad that a new iPhone app was recently launched to track food scandals nationwide. The app, which sends out daily updates on the latest outrages, was reportedly downloaded more than 200,000 times in the first week. In 2008, infant formula and other milk products were found to be contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used to make fertilizer and plastic pipe. Six children died and some 300,000 fell sick. The melamine scandal caused a nationwide panic among parents of young children, and there was a worldwide recall of Chinese products ranging from biscuits to baby formula. Two Chinese milk producers were executed for selling more than 3 million pounds of contaminated milk powder. There were unsettling echoes of that scandal last week when China's largest dairy, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, found elevated levels of mercury in its infant formula and was forced to recall six months' worth of production. Yili was one of the dairies involved in the 2008 scandal. Milk and dairy safety has become such a sensitive topic in China that some Internet searches about the scandal were reportedly blocked by government censors. Another major milk producer, China Mengniu Dairy, had to destroy large batches of milk in December when government spot checks turned up evidence of aflatoxin, a cancer-causing fungus. Within a day of the news, my colleague Edward Wong reported, people on the Internet "had posted or copied posts on the bad milk nearly four million times." The string of food-safety scandals, especially in the dairy sector, has led to falling share prices — and significant buying opportunities for foreign investors, according to a Reuters report published in the International Herald Tribune. The Danish-Swedish dairy group Arla, for example, said last week that it plans to buy a 6 percent stake in Mengniu. China is already the world's largest formula market, Reuters reported, noting that the country is "expected to overtake the United States as the largest dairy market by 2020." That timeline could be hastened by a possible relaxation of China's so-called one-child policy in 2015".

One thing baffling about the above report is whether this is a new development consequent to the liberalization of Chines economy or was existing even prior to it but never exposed before. The new found economic status of many families due to rapid development during the last two decades has raised the expectations of the population and this could be one of the reasons for demand for safer and better foods. The innovative ability of Chinese fraudsters to camouflage their tinkering of food is to be admired and food technologists can learn a trick or two from them in utilizing the same techniques in improving many existing products or developing new products. How about India? The fraudsters here are in no way inferior to their Chinese counterparts and the classical example is the infamous "milk" made without cows or buffaloes or any other animals!.


V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

SCHOOL CAFETERIAS IN CHINA- FOOD SAFETY OVERHAULING

It is interesting to read a recent news item which reported the action of Chinese food safety authorities in overhauling the catering facilities in schools across the country to improve the safety standards there with a view to protect the health of children who depend on them for their meals. The report opens a window to the prevailing situations that exist in Chinese educational institutions, especially in the lower level schools and it is revealing that in schools cafeteria facilities are provided to the students. In contrast the schools in India do not provide such facilities with most kids attracted towards street hawkers who sell unhygienic foods jeopardizing their health. Only recently the Supreme Court in India passed strictures against the government regarding the unhealthy foods to which kids are exposed with the government filing a weak reply which was an example of obfuscation. Many government schools in India depend on free foods distributed under the Applied Nutrition Program or midday meal project under the illusion that children attend the school more regularly. It will be interesting to learn more about the Chinese system though the report mentioned above gives one the impression that it is similar to the American system where kids are supplied subsidized foods through regular canteens. Here is a take on this interesting news. 

"A total of 600 school cafeterias have been given administrative penalties during China's latest inspection tour of such facilities, and more than 20,000 have been ordered to eliminate potential food safety hazards, according to a food watchdog statement released on Friday. Although the punishments were not specified, Chinese administrative penalties usually involve fines and revocations of licenses. As of the end of March, 130,000 school cafeterias across China had been overhauled during a joint inspection launched by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) and the Ministry of Education, according to the SFDA statement. The two organs will conduct a new wave of inspections from May to the end of June, in a bid to prevent food poisoning in the warmer months and examine the implementation of the government order on ensuring food safety. A series of food poisoning cases have been reported by schools in the past month, raising fears among Chinese students and parents.Schools are required to increase students' awareness of food safety, and relevant departments are urged to strict supervision, the statement said". 

In a way, one has to admire the Chinese government for populistic measures like the above though these are at the expense of limiting the personal freedom of the citizens for the sake of national development. The intensified checking and hauling up of institutions for safety violations also speak well of the values attached to the upbringing of children, who are future citizens of the country. While the present attempt is mainly focused on safety violations, what  needs to be done further is to streamline the nutritional and health value of foods offered in school cafeterias across the country. It may be recalled that America is going through a phase where more restrictions are being placed regarding what type of foods should be available in school premises weeding out sugary and fatty foods with low nutrient density, a model that can be adapted in other countries.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

EVERY BODY LOVES CHINA-THE US TOO! AND THE CONSEQUENCES?

China is a country loved by many, hated equally by many and admired by many, depending on what criterion is used. Its pole vaulting into global economic summit and talking as an equal with established world powers has been both dramatic and amazing, calling for admiration all around. But it is hated world over when one looks at its brutality and remorseless suppression of the citizens denying the fundamental rights enjoyed in many democratic countries. No doubt China has built a solid foundation for its technological and industrial growth though the inputs from the erstwhile Soviet Union during early stages should not be forgotten. Full credit must be given to the farmers of the country for raising food production and productivity in almost all crops, making it the top producer of many foods. All said and done, China still lives in rural hinterlands and through shrewd policy orchestrations the country was able to back up the farming community remarkably well. Latest instance of governments long term vision is reflected in the frenetic pace with which it is trying to build up its swine food industry by transforming small scale rural farms into large industrial production centers. Unwittingly the US is helping China to achieve this goal through supply of technology and other inputs with a short term objective of earning dollars from this dollar rich country! Here is a take on this interesting development which should be an eye opener for others like India.

"In a country where pork is a culinary staple, the demand for a protein-rich diet is growing faster than Chinese farmers can keep up. While Americans cut back on meat consumption to the lowest levels seen in two decades, the Chinese now eat nearly 10 percent more meat than they did five years ago. China's solution: to super-size its supply by snapping up millions of live animals raised by U.S. farmers as breeding stock - capitalizing on decades of cutting edge agricultural research in America. By taking this step, say breeders and exporters, China will move from small-scale backyard farms, to the Westernized tradition of large consolidated operations to keep up with demand. "I liken it to their telephone system," said Mike Lemmon, co-owner of the Whiteshire Hamroc farm, which specializes in exporting breeding swine to China. "Most of China's mainland went from having no landlines to everyone having a cell phone. They're doing the same thing with farming." Focus on livestock genetics also represents an emerging economic bonanza for two of the United States' most powerful industries: technology and agriculture. Worldwide, the United States exported a record $664 million worth of breeding stock and genetic material such as semen in 2011. But as fortune shines on breeders, concerns are being raised. While U.S. consumption of meat falls, the price of producing a pound of protein rises, meaning meat companies are seeing their margins shrink. That has prompted some critics to question whether the short-term gains of this trend will result in a longer-term loss of a key export market for American meat producers. This is, after all, a well-trod path in China's pursuit of efficiency: import a technology or create a joint-venture; learn the best practices; apply those practices at a lower cost than overseas rivals; and emerge as an aggressive competitor in the global market".

Whether such a move will prove to be beneficial in the long run is a big question mark only future can provide the answer. While increased production of pigs can definitely have an adverse impact on the carbon emissions globally, higher consumption of meat will have undesirable consequences on the health of the citizens in that country. As for the US, this is a country which does not seem to be learning any thing from the past dealings with China. If at all any single country which has continuously assisted China for more than 3 decades in its technological frog leaping it is the US with its huge investments on the industry there based on technology sharing mode. Chinese products made with US technology but with cheap Chinese labor are creating serious unemployment in the US because Chinese made products are invariably much cheaper than that made within the country. It is time the US wakes up to the real danger posed by China in the economic development through ways and means that cannot be considered truly transparent and honest.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

CHINA INDULGING IN CANNIBALISM?-STARTLING REPORT!

Cannibalism which involves any species on earth eating a fellow member of the same species was considered normal during the evolutionary development till human beings emerged, though there were instances of cannibalism among fierce tribal that lived in remote jungles. But in modern world such practices are considered inhuman and never tolerated. Now comes the news that in the most "lovable" China cannibalism is being exported to other countries albeit surreptitiously! Recent revelation that dried and ground human flesh, encapsulated, is being smuggled into South Korea is one of the most bizarre developments generating shock and revulsion among fellow human beings all across the world. Here is the gist of the above news which reveals the "ethos" of the so called world power!    

"South Korea has said that it will increase customs check on capsules coming from China that contained powdered human flesh. The Korea Customs Service said it had found that almost 17,500 capsules were being smuggled into the country from China since August 2011. According to the BBC, inspection will be increased on the shipments of drugs arriving from northeast China. Officials have said that the powdered flesh was made from dead babies and foetuses and reportedly cured disease and boost stamina".

Of course Chinese may justify their action through many explanations but still it is a practice that cannot be condoned by the world. It is true that fresh cadaver is used extensively world around for harvesting precious organs which provides new life to millions of people affected by various diseases involving eyes, heart, liver, pancreas, kidney etc but this is done in a transparent way through legal route. There is a vital difference between this universally accepted practice and processing of human flesh for human consumption what ever is the source. As China is a country with no practicing democracy, every thing it does is shrouded in secrecy and therefore one may not know from where the human flesh is "harvested" for processing into capsules and the situation becomes more grim when seized samples of these capsules were found highly contaminated with bacteria raising fears about their safety. It is time that world raises its voice in unison to condemn this country which behaves irrationally and arrogantly in many ways!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

CHINA'S PLANNED "BIG LEAP"-ARE THE TARGETS ACHIEVABLE?

China's food production has achieved amazing growth rates in the past which showcases its prowess in modern agriculture technology. Though its population is growing at a moderate level, the food production has always kept ahead of population increase every year. But for occasional droughts and floods, there does not seem to be any major hiccup in food availability and even under such conditions the country is in a position to spend liberally on imports using the vast foreign exchange reserves it holds. Therefore it does not come as a surprise to see the targets for food production hiked recently for achieving a 100% growth in just three years! With a tight control over the economy and very little personal freedom, it may not be a surprise if the country gets to the post easily. Here is a take on this claim by China regarding its dream for doubling food production by the year 2015. 

"China has issued the 12th Five-Year Plan for its food industry, aiming to have output of 12 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) by 2015, the National Reform and Development Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a joint statement. During the previous 5-year period (2006-2010), China's food industry generated an output of 6.1 trillion yuan, accounting for 8.8 percent of the country's total industrial output during the same period. To realize its output goal, the plan calls for a restructuring of the food industry. The plan sees food conglomerates as a major driving the force in the sector, accompanied by small and medium-sized enterprises.Chinese officials say they are making stronger efforts to address China's long-term food safety concerns amid rising public outcries that the country's food products can't be trusted. Scandals in the food sector are a nerve-racking issue for the Chinese authorities; numerous measures to enforce standards have failed to have the desired effect, meaning food safety remains a major public concern. Inefficient inspection methods -- an issue partly attributed to supervisory powers being shared between different government organs -- have been widely cited as a main cause. According to the plan, China will raise the threshold for businesses in the food sector and establish a sound monitoring system for food safety in addition to a different mechanism that attributes food safety responsibilities to businesses involved. Earlier this week, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that China would not tolerate any move that sacrifices the health of the population to achieve profit-taking".

The statistics put out by Chinese may need closer scrutiny because of its obsession with glorifying the communist philosophy though independent international agencies have the means to verify production statistics scientifically. Interestingly the production increase is projected in terms of value , not in volume and there is always the inflation element that can vitiate the actual production figures. Even then the production increase will be substantial if Chinese are able to achieve the target. World needs to be worries about the quantum jump in food production in China because of its likely impact on global food prices. If Chinese chooses to export large quantities, the global food prices are bound to crash affecting the economy of many agricultural produce exporting countries, most of them being poor ones. Post-2015 era will be interesting to watch.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

EVERY BODY LOVES CHINA-THE US TOO! AND THE CONSEQUENCES?

China is a country loved by many, hated equally by many and admired by many, depending on what criterion is used. Its pole vaulting into global economic summit and talking as an equal with established world powers has been both dramatic and amazing. calling for admiration all around. But it is hated world over when one looks at its brutality and remorseless suppression of the citizens denying the fundamental rights enjoyed in many democratic countries. No doubt China has built a solid foundation for its technological and industrial growth though the inputs from Soviet Union during early stages should not be forgotten. Full credit must be given to the farmers of the country for raising food production and productivity in almost all crops, making it the top producer of many foods. All said and done, China still lives in rural hinterlands and through shrewd policy orchestrations the country was able to back up the farming community remarkably well. Latest instance of government's long term vision is reflected in the frenetic pace with which it is trying to build up its swine food industry by transforming small scale rural farms into large industrial production centers. Unwittingly the US is helping China to achieve this goal through supply of technology and other inputs with a short term objective of earning dollars from this dollar rich country! Here is a take on this interesting development which should be an eye opener for others like India.

"In a country where pork is a culinary staple, the demand for a protein-rich diet is growing faster than Chinese farmers can keep up. While Americans cut back on meat consumption to the lowest levels seen in two decades, the Chinese now eat nearly 10 percent more meat than they did five years ago. China's solution: to super-size its supply by snapping up millions of live animals raised by U.S. farmers as breeding stock - capitalizing on decades of cutting edge agricultural research in America. By taking this step, say breeders and exporters, China will move from small-scale backyard farms, to the Westernized tradition of large consolidated operations to keep up with demand. "I liken it to their telephone system," said Mike Lemmon, co-owner of the Whiteshire Hamroc farm, which specializes in exporting breeding swine to China. "Most of China's mainland went from having no landlines to everyone having a cell phone. They're doing the same thing with farming." Focus on livestock genetics also represents an emerging economic bonanza for two of the United States' most powerful industries: technology and agriculture. Worldwide, the United States exported a record $664 million worth of breeding stock and genetic material such as semen in 2011. But as fortune shines on breeders, concerns are being raised. While U.S. consumption of meat falls, the price of producing a pound of protein rises, meaning meat companies are seeing their margins shrink. That has prompted some critics to question whether the short-term gains of this trend will result in a longer-term loss of a key export market for American meat producers. This is, after all, a well-trod path in China's pursuit of efficiency: import a technology or create a joint-venture; learn the best practices; apply those practices at a lower cost than overseas rivals; and emerge as an aggressive competitor in the global market".

Chinese are biggest consumers of pork meet and changing their traditional food eating habits is a herculean task. The fact that Chicken meat is cheaper to produce should have persuaded the Chinese authorities to discourage pork based diet in stead of tuning their livestock industry to raise pork production which will definitely be harmful to the country in the long run. Another concern is the impact of the expansion of pork industry in China on the global food front. While country farms use locally available feed resources, high tech birds need to be fed grain based feeds sucking out a substantial portion of food production regularly without any respite. The US which is pampering the Chinese in every conceivable way will realize soon about its short sighted policy of assisting Chinese in their focused pork industry program!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE WEIGHT "FRAUD"!-A RAMPANT OCCURRENCE

Consumers world over have to trust the market players when it comes to the weight or volume of contents in a portion sold to them whether packed or fresh. Each country is supposed to have iron-clad rules to protect its citizens from weight frauds indulged by sellers as the consumer cannot be expected to carry measuring devices with them while going for shopping. Citizens depend on the government to discipline the trade through deterrent measures when corrupt selling practices are detected and a vigilant monitoring force is a pre-requisite for identifying fraudsters who indulge in such devious activities. In big countries like India or China, the monitoring agencies often do not have adequate infrastructure and personnel to systematically and continuously catch the culprits, thereby harming the economic interests of the consumers. Here is a story from China which speaks of such frauds in that country as reported recently. 

"SOME hypermarkets and wet markets in the city are cheating consumers on products' weight, particularly on fresh food products, Shanghai quality watchdogs say. Officials with the Shanghai Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision said in some of the hypermarkets, the weight stated on food labels included the weight of the packages. In the Tesco Zhenbei branch in Putuo District, the weight of a pack of sea cucumbers was nearly 15 grams lighter than what the label said, forcing consumers to pay 1.2 yuan (US19 cents) more for each pack, said the bureau. In the NGS No. 118 store, also in Putuo, 10 types of products included the package weight - cooked food, imported fruits, fresh meat, aquatic products and others. And in some wet markets, officials found some vendors rigged electronic scales with a program written into the scales' computer chips, officials said. Yesterday in a vegetable wholesale market in Minhang District, a vendor was using a scale which could control the readout of the weight by pushing designated buttons. Hu Jianping, an city quality official, said the cheating was subtle enough that common consumers could not tell". 

In India there was a time when the Standards of Weight and Measures regulation was in force and those indulging in malpractices were dealt with severely. Sadly in its pursuit of economic liberalization and growth, the government policy underwent drastic changes allowing sellers to pack foods in any non-standard norm and the result is utter chaos in the market. The hapless consumer in the country finds it hard to choose products based on weight because the present labeling provisions do not insist on including the unit cost prominently. In their drive to expand sales manufacturers are adjusting the contents to suit round figures like Rs 2, 3, 5, 6, 10 20 etc and it is common to find same types of products selling at a particular price with varying contents! Similarly there are millions of retail stores which sell loose commodities using defective or manipulated weighing devices. Same is true with wet markets which sell fruits and vegetables using defective balances. One is yet to hear of a fraudster being booked for such heinous crimes! A sad reflection on the ability or commitment on the part of the government to consumer welfare!  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

TAMING THE MNC FOOD GIANTS-CHINESE EXAMPLE

Most developing countries have the tendency to bend backwards to please multinational food companies for attracting foreign investment at "any cost" by evolving policies that are considered too liberal. In India most MNCs have a field day with barely any visible strategy or vigilance on the part of the government to monitor their actions which cannot be considered consumer friendly too often. The infamous Bhopal Gas Tragedy is still fresh in the memory of people and how the government then in power enabled the responsible people to escape with barely rap on their knuckle is part of history. Even to day the successor company Dow Chemicals is least bothered about the human tragedy that shook the international community. With unlimited freedom given to these companies Indian food sector is dominated by half a dozen such giants operating with impunity, destroying the domestic food processors slowly. In contrast look at the Chinese landscape where the government has shown great alacrity in booking those causing potential injury to its citizens. Latest to be booked is the global potato fry manufacturer who had to apologize to the country for its deficiencies in safeguarding the safety of products served by them. Here is a take on this episode as reported from China. 

"Just weeks after launching an advertising campaign focused on food and quality safety in China, McDonalds is under fire for local food safety violations. State-run China Central Television accused the company of selling chicken wings more than an hour and a half after they were cooked, which is about an hour past the company's self-imposed rule. The report also said that workers prepared and served beef that had fallen on the floor. The investigation was launched to mark World Consumer Rights Day on Wednesday. "McDonald's China attaches great importance to this," the company responded on its website. "We will immediately investigate this isolated incident, resolutely deal with it earnestly and take concrete actions to apologize to consumers." 

Interestingly there is an orchestrated campaign in that country as well as in the international circuits that MNCs re being discriminated against by Chinese authorities who are showing extra lenience while dealing with local processors. There may be some truth in that allegation but it does not speak well of these food giants when they start comparing themselves with their domestic counterparts while claiming at the same time that their technological superiority gives the consumers a better and safer product!. Chinese government, in spite of all food safety scandals happening in the country must be given due credit for disciplining the foreign food manufacturers who have greater potential to harm the consumers through their awesome technological and financial clout. Countries like India must learn a lesson from this episode to increase state vigilance on the working of some of the MNCs who have the notoriety in manipulating state policies in their favor and cause irreparable damage in the long run. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com